Reliance Capital Blog

Friday, May 16, 2008

Reliance Capital to offer insurance cover on funds

Indian mutual fund firm Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd said on Friday it will offer life insurance cover investors opting for systematic investment plan (SIP) route in 11 of its funds.

Upon the pre-mature death of an investor opting for SIP of 3-15 years, the firm will pay the balance unpaid SIP installments subject to a maximum of 1 million rupees, the asset manager said in a notice. The scheme will be effective May 12.

SIP allows an investors to invest a fixed amount in a fund on a pre-decided date and periodicity.

Reliance MF first to cross Rs 1 lakh-crore AUM mark

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Mutual Fund — the number one mutual fund in the country in terms of assets under management — has added another feather to its cap. It has become the first mutual fund house in India whose AUM has topped the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark.

An official at Reliance Mutual Fund confirmed that the AUM has crossed the coveted milestone, but added that numbers to be released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) on Friday may not reflect the achievement. This is because Amfi figures take into consideration the average AUM for the whole month.

For the past year, Reliance’s AMC has been topping the AUM charts backed by strong inflows into equity schemes, as retail investors rushed to benefit from the booming stock market. Its Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) was in the order of Rs 90,938 crore for March, 2008. It also has one of the largest investor bases in the country with 66.87 lakh investors on its scrolls.

Only UTI AMC, a government-backed mutual fund which has been in operation for the past few decades, has a larger retail base.

Last month saw AUMs of most fund house grow since the hardening of the interest rate scenario and the possibility of higher yields attracted many investors towards debt offerings like FMPs.

Data on its website reveals that Reliance MF has a presence in 115 cities across the country. Its schemes are managed by Reliance Capital Asset Management, a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, which holds 93.37% of the paid-up capital of RCAM, the balance paid-up capital being held by minority shareholders. Reliance Capital is listed on the BSE and NSE.

Just a couple of months back, Reliance Mutual Fund announced one of the largest NFO collections ever when it collected around Rs 5,660 crore through its Reliance Natural Resources Fund. Incidentally, two years back, it was Reliance itself that had registered the biggest NFO in the Indian mutual fund history with Reliance Equity Fund. As per results announced by Reliance Capital, net profit of Reliance Capital Asset Management for financial year 2007-08 was at Rs 150 crore, an increase of 210 %.

Reliance Mutual Fund was one of the earliest private AMCs to be floated way back in 1995, after the government allowed new private players in the asset management space.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Reliance Money to launch Shariah-compliant investment scheme

Reliance Money today joined hands with Parsoli Corp to launch the country's first Shariah- compliant Portfolio Management Scheme for investors in India and West Asia seeking to invest as per the Shariah Laws.

The brokerage and financial products distribution arm of Anil Ambani group, Reliance Money would offer this PMS for as low as Rs 5 lakh, the company said in a statement.

Reliance Money plans to market these schemes extensively in India and West Asian Countries.Terming it as first-of-its-kind tie up, Reliance Money said the schemes would be launched in partnership with Parsoli Corp, which has been recently awarded as the 'Best Islamic Brokerage Firm' in the world for 2007.

The tie-up was announced by Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Parsoli Managing Director and CEO Zafar Sareshwala, it added. "A significant part of India's population has not been offered appropriate financial products in compliance with the relevant religious sentiments. Shariah-compliant PMS, proposed by Reliance Money with Parsoli Corp, would enable us to tap this sector and reach out to a large section of such investors," Bandyopadhyay said.

As per the understanding, Parsoli would work with Reliance Money to ensure compliance with Shariah Laws for the relevant schemes being launched by Reliance firm. Parsoli would also market other financial products and services being introduced by Reliance Money from time-to-time.

"Currently we offer PMS for as low as Rs 5 lakh with an aggressive and competitive fee structure. We do not charge any fee for returns up to 8 per cent, charge 10 per cent fee for returns up to 20 per cent and charge 20 per cent fee for over 20 per cent returns. We would replicate the same model for the Shariah Compliant Schemes as well," Bandyopadhyay added.